MPO’s Most-Read Stories This Week—June 10

Maybe it was the finality of the situation. Maybe it was driven by sympathy. Or perhaps it was just simple curiosity. 

Regardless of reason, the final chapter in the convoluted story of disgraced business mogul Elizabeth Holmes took top billing on MPO’s website this past week. The column in this month’s edition of the magazine detailed the new image Holmes attempted to portray to the world before reporting to the Federal Prison Camp in Bryan, Texas, on May 30 to begin serving her 11.25-year prison term for defrauding Theranos investors. A recent 5,500-word profile in The New York Times portrayed the former Theranos CEO (now federal inmate 24965-111) as an authentic, sympathetic, “normal” woman who volunteers at a rape crisis hotline, abhors R-rated movies, and prefers bucket hats and mom jeans over black turtlenecks and Kabuki red lipstick. Yet Holmes’ authenticity remained murky, even as she spent her last days of freedom with her husband, Billy Evans, and two children. 

“How do you have an honest conversation with a person whose fraud trial has played out so publicly?” Times reporter Amy Chozick asks. Fair question, though it begs the query: Can an honest conversation be had with such a person?

Also driving site traffic this past week was an online exclusive on new hearing aid technology and a magazine feature on medical product outsourcing’s past and future (products, not the publication). The exclusive detailed xMEMS’ silicon-based hearing aids and its benefits for both manufacturers and users. The Silicon Valley company’s all-silicon, solid-state micro speaker reproduces sound that is inherently more uniform, consistent, reliable, and lighter weight, with improved audio resolution and detail compared with legacy architectures.

The outsourcing feature—conducted to commemorate the magazine’s 20th birthday—polled MPO Editorial Board members on outsourcing’s past and future prospects. According to board members, the industry’s future will be shaped by geopolitical and logistical challenges, artificial intelligence/machine learning, value-based pricing, and reconfigured supply chains.

Other stories garnering page views in the first full week of June included Olympus’ proposed digital excellence centers, and Bausch + Lomb’s newest executive hire.

1. Elizabeth Holmes’ Pre-Prison Public Persona

2. Olympus to Establish Digital Excellence Centers

3. The Future of Hearing Aids: xMEMS Develops All-Silicon, Solid State Micro Speaker

4. 20 Years: A Discussion on the Past and Future of Medical Product Outsourcing

5. Bob Bailey Appointed Executive VP and Chief Legal Officer at Bausch + Lomb